Last night was sage and thyme stuffed into some roasted chicken. Pesto is going in the freezer tonight also. Sampled some of Jay's garlic, "super white" with some sauteed broccoli so I ate from mine and his garden :)

Dale

I had two kinds of squash, sliced thick and sprinkled with garlic salt and olive oil and baked in the oven and also had steamed green beans. The chicken breast came from Walmart. LOL In addition, I snacked on Sungold tomatoes while I cooked and had a small sweet pepper which I washed, took out the seeds, and ate like an apple. Fresh vegetables are great.

Oops. That was lunch, last night I ate at Braums.

A man brought a big basket of produce to church to day to share. I took the last of the eggplant so I could make greek food.

I just now had squash that was sliced like pickles and added to the juice of a gallon jar of pickles. I added a little more vinegar, some onion, fresh garlic and peppercorns and left it in the refrigerator for a couple of days. It was one of those days when I picked enough squash to fill a gallon jar and still had enough to cook. I picked the crisp slices up with my fingers and ate them like potato chips with my sandwich for lunch.

Huitlacoche de Mexicana

To my astonishment, I found ONE perfect, fresh specimen in my garden! What's a girl to do but cook it, and that's exactly what I did. Oh yes I did too! EXACTLY according to the recipe for the filling. The only substitute I made was that I improvised the dough from organic cornmeal mixed with melted butter, a little baking powder, and enough water to make it hold together. And then patted it out on a cutting board very carefully in 2 pieces, for top and bottom. Then I substituted yellow American cheese for the topping. When I put it all together, I fried it in hot oil til it was browned and crispy, (both sides).
Was it good? Yes, as a matter of fact it was very good.
The left over filling goes into the freezer for when my other DS visits soon. The DS that lives with me, said he'd pass, but what does he know?

Recipe link at the bottom:

Here is a link that might be useful: Huitlacoche de Mexicana

Tonite - (Monday) we had stew! Beef from a cow grown by friends, potatoes, onions, green beans, corn, and tomatoes out of our garden!! It was so darned good I didn't have to add salt or pepper!! Yum-yum!

If I wasn't already so full, I'd have to have another bowl!

Sounds like standard Okie chow! Must have been good to rate a post :)

On the Huitachoche recipe I posted just before your's...it was good I must admit, but I'll never do that again. Had a stomach ache all night.

I'll try most anything ONCE, except 'some' things from the animal kingdom, and all things from the reptile kingdom, and somethings from the ocean, lakes, rivers, etc.

Barb

Here is a link that might be useful: Huitlachoche/ Mexican Truffle/corn smut/ YUK!

Well, Barb, that was very interesting. I learned something already this morning and I'm not even fully awake yet! LOL

Ilene
Fortunately, my tummy has fully recovered. The experience reminded me of a story a young religious friend told me a few years ago. She said,"Lord, I don't know why my stomach is in such an uproar." She said the Lord told her the reason was, she'd eaten cabbage and beans.
We live, we learn, lol

Barb

I have a grandson that is a very picky eater. He will eat plenty if it is something he likes, (hamburgers, hotdogs, homemade bread) but he doesn't like much. About the only fruit he will eat are grapes. Last time he was here, I was really busy and meals were kind of hit and miss for a day or two. One night he said, "Grandmom, my stomach hurts." I said, "Well, I wonder why?", and I was serious. He said, "Well, do you think it could have been that pound of grapes I ate?" I said, "Yep, I think you have figured it out." LOL Sometimes our bodies are smarter than our heads.

Were your huitlacoches fresh or canned?

Dale
I found ONE ear of corn with the aforesaid huitlacoche
on it, so, yes, it was 'fresh'. If I find any next year, they will go in the compost bin. Apparently my digestive system is not programmed for 'religious experiences'.

Barb

Barbara,

I'm surprised you found only one. When I see it, I usually have it on a few ears. I don't see it often though since it usually isn't that rainy when I've got corn at the right stage for it.

I don't care how anyone prepares it (including Dale!) I am not going to eat a corn fungus.

Dawn

Tomatoes from the time I awake till I hit the hay. This morning had a few fresh raw okra, for dinner a BPT, a cucumber, a bell pepprer and some small tomatoes sliced. For supper fried egg plant and a BPT( with slices of my first Brandyboy). When I got home I snacked on BQ x BC cherries till I had Supper. Jay

Green fried tomatoes...mmmmm...big skillet cooked to perfection.

Too many initials for us that don't know Jay, What is a BPT? BQ & BC are types of cherry toms, I assume.

Dorothy,

He likes using all those acronyms to confuse us.

I remember his grow list pretty well, I think, and don't remember a tomato with BPT as the initials, so my best guess is that he had a "Bacon, Pepper and Tomato sandwich" made with Brandyboy tomatoes. I always have the standard BLTs, but Tim likes BOLTS, which is a BLT with onion added so I bet I have Jay's BPT deciphered. Jay's BQ x BC would be cherries from his "Black Quartz x Black Cherry" cross, I think.

Now we have to wait for Jay to come back and tell us if I did a good job of deciphering his use of initials.

It may take a while for him to post....I think he's out picking tomatoes every night after work...and rightfully so. He has worked really hard to get his maters to the harvest stage and now he's having a ton of fun harvesting them, eating them and keeping an eye on the weather and hoping for a late first frost there.

Dawn

For me tonight, Huge Poblano Chili Rellano, stuffed with cheese, floured, fried and seasoned with Fajita seasoning. Served with sour cream, sliced tom, and a very large glass of iced tea, in case of fire.

Barb

Dawn hit it on the head . I'm not a big fan of lettuce on sandwiches but a NM chili with a little heat is good on anything almost. Add that to a good hamburger or a bacon sandwich and I'm in heaven almost. So I've always called mine BPT's. I can eat them several times a day. Had a hamburger tonight with onions, peppers and maters from the garden for supper tonight. . Also grilled some onion with frozen asparagus and okra. MMMMMM

Picked around 12 1/2 lbs of maters tonight. The fist True Black Brandywine. So taste testing will be ongoing for awhile.And the BQ x BC is how they were listed when I received them. I really like them but would be one you will either like or dislike. No in between. Has a unique flavor nor everyone would like in my opinion. Jay

Jay,

Ha! See how well I know you. Takes one to know one, and I am speaking as a tomato and pepper addict. LOL

All I had from the garden last night was black-eyed peas and onions.

Today though, I am making/canning salsa using tomtoes, peppers and onions from the garden, and at dinner tonight we're having broccoli and corn from the garden.

Dawn

Dawn,
Just had a mate and cuke along with a HB pattie for dinner. Probably grill a steak and some veggies for supper. Of course some mater and a cuke also. Need to do a bunch of seed saving this afternoon. And maybe get things ready to make some hot sauce and salse soon. Running out of places to store the tomatoes. Picking them a few days early. We don't have a lot of grass hoppers the but the ones we do are huge and like to eat maters. The birds are more interested in eating the sunflowers right now. I plan on cutting the heads off and letting them dry. Hopefully the seeds are mature enough. The stems are yellow where the heads are. Then cut the stalks off and work that area for garlic. Time to be putting it in. Jay

Jay,

Yum yum. Eating from the garden is great.

I made 7 pints of salsa this afternoon and then worked out in the yard until DS showed up with McDonald's, so I ate junk food for supper.

Tomorrow I'm going to pick more peppers and make more salsa. I make a lot of different kinds so we have a variety to choose from.

We have had no sun to speak of for well over a week now and fairly constant light rain, so all my enlarging/ripening tomatoes are weather checking very badly and aren't going to be worth eating. The grasshoppers here must be hiding...I've barely seen any since the rain started. I found and killed another tomato worm yesterday, and this afternoon I cut all my datura plants and threw them on the compost pile because a small bobcat has been hiding under them and stalking my cats. I'm trying to remove any plants in the yard that give him cover.

More cougar news but I'll put it on the cougar trap thread.

Dawn

Dawn
I made salsa today as well, the copy cat Pace Picante recipe, only with all fresh garden ingredients, and no garlic or onion powder. Tastes awesome. And, a batch of red jalapeno jam made with tart cherry juice instead of vinegar. Looks pretty. It's cooling now. I hope it turns out okay. But- what a job!

It's funny you mentioned McDonalds. I've noticed that when I'm canning, there's not a whole lot of cooking and meal prep going on. So food is mostly catch as catch can. For me tonight, just a little fried okra from some I just picked and my first Indian Stripe.
The tomatos are really producing. Tomorrow it's going to be spagetti sauce making day.
You stay safe now, you and yellow cat and those other kitties!

Barbara

Barbara,

Lately I've been making salsa about once a week, and sometimes twice a week depending on how many tomatoes I have.

When I am canning, I go to one extreme or the other meal wise--either I go all out and we have a meal that has 3 or 4 or 5 garden veggies (one day it was fried okra, black-eyed peas, tomatoes and boiled squash/onions/peppers and jalapeno poppers,all from the garden)....or it is fast food or a peanut butter sandwich. If it is a multiple batch canning day, I'll often cook a meal in between batches. If everyone else is gone and I'm home alone, it might be just a peanut butter sandwich. Chris stopped by my garden yesterday and said he was going to town and did I want McDonald's, and even though I mostly steer clear of fast food, I decided that was preferable to a peanut butter sandwich.

I made Annie's Salsa, but Tim's version of it, which substitutes habanero peppers for some of the green peppers. I didn't even seed the habs, so this salsa starts out smooth and 'gentle' when you first taste it, and then the hab heat gives it a bit of a kick.

One reason I make so many kinds of salsa is that everyone in the family likes different degrees of heat. I have not yet found a recipe for salsa that is too hot for my daughter-in-law, but I keep trying. The hotter the better, in her opinion. I made one recently that featured five or six kinds of peppers and, although it seemed hot and very 'aromatic' while cooking, it wasn't excessively hot when we ate it. It was too hot for me to eat much of it, but not as hot as she really likes it.

I have a jalapeno salsa recipe (think it is from the newest issue of the Ball Blue Book) that I believe calls for 3 cups of tomatoes and 3 cups of jalapenos. That is the one I am going to make today or tomorrow. If we like it, I might make a hotter version for Erika where I substitute some habaneros for some of the jalapenos.

I bet your red jalapeno jelly will be delicious. Chris was hinting the other day that he 'needs' strawberry and grape jelly, so maybe I'll make that next week. Once you're used to making your own, the store-bought stuff does not compare. I've made several dozen jars of pepper jelly this year, so I think we've got that area covered pretty well.
I think Sunday or Monday will be spaghetti sauce day, and most likely Monday because I like to watch NFL football on Sunday afternoons.

The kitties are still being exceptionally cautious. I found the bobcat trail through a big patch of four o-clocks that sit between the pecan tree and veggie garden. The four o'clocks are 5-6' tall and in full, glorius bloom. They cover an area about 40' long and about 12-15' wide. Yesterday, I took out all the 4 o'clocks in an area that was about 10' long by 15' wide. I still have a lot more to remove. I am clear-cutting them to the ground so the bobcat can't hide in them. Of course, since they have huge bulbs the size of my head, they'll be completely regrown in a month, but maybe by then we'll have removed the bobcat from our property. It is slow-going removing them because of the venomous snake issue. (sigh) If it wasn't for all the wild things here, I'd get a lot more accomplished. Ever since we moved here in 1999, I've been planting and growing stuff and the yard is starting to look rather lush compared to how it looked then. The downside is that all the lush growth gives varmints more hiding places. I used to be able to look out any window in the house and see 100 yards away and could watch for predators. Now, when I look out a window, I see shrubs, trees, etc. and don't have that long-range view any more. It is quite a dilemma. I am not going to cut down shrubs or trees, so hope that cutting down the four o'clocks helps enough to make it worth sacrificing their blooms.

There have been new tracks in my fenced-in garden every morning and they are bobcat sized. This is a fairly small one, but it got a good-sized 7-year-old chicken the other day and we followed the trail of feathers pretty deep into the woods, but didn't find the cat or the dead hen.

Dawn

Dawn grow the Goliath Jalapeno and use it. I would almost guarnatee it will add enough heat. It is around 10,000 Scovilles they say and 3 times or more hotter than an average Jalapeno. And really a nice big one with good flavor. Jay

Jay,

I'll give it a try. That's pretty high Scoville numbers for a jalapeno. Our daughter-in-law eats a lot of Asian food and I'm not sure even a habanero is hot enough for her! I think I could make a salsa hot enough to satisfy her if I put a lot of habaneros in it. We bought a commercial habanero sauce one day and she was so excited about it....and it wasn't hot to her at all, and then she was so disappointed. I swear--she could eat fire and it wouldn't be hot enough.

Dawn

Dawn
Her tongue is probably cauterized. That would explain why she doesn't feel the pain.

Last night's din din made DS happy. Spagetti and meat balls made from the spagetti sauce I canned yesterday.
Wish I'd had your new kitchen deally. It's now on my wish list!

Barbara

Barbara,

I'm making sauce with it tomorrow and I'll let you know how it goes, but I suspect I'm going to love it. I've wanted one for years, but was worried about the expense. I bet it will be one of those things about which I'll be saying "wish I'd bought this ten years ago....".

For somebody who processes a lot of tomatoes, it is going to be a real timesaver.

Last night I had broccoli (fresh from the garden in June and then frozen) and okra with dinner. Today, it is jalapeno poppers to go with lunch and I haven't decided on dinner yet. It is always something from the garden though.

Dawn

For dinner tonight I cooked something I haven't had in years. This year I planted vining okra aka loofa sponge. The young pods are tender and tasty battered and fried like okra.

Also had pico de gallo but bought the jalapenos and they were really really hot. DH and I like ours with only a little "pico," so next batch I make will only have 1 jalapeno, not two. Had a oouple tomatillos from the garden to add to it. We both like those. Also green beans--the Cherokee stripe poles that George gave me seed of--and some corn from the freezer. The venison was a gift from a friend, so it was a totally home grown meal.

Does the vining okra taste like okra? Sounds interesting. For several years I grew Rampacante zucchini which vined like crazy, and made the best fritters when it was picked young. If you let it go, it would end up looking like a baseball bat.
It's wonderful indeed to be able to go out to the garden and pick something fresh to eat. That's one of the things that makes having a garden so worthwhile and rewarding.
Sometimes, especially when I was rushed from gardening,harvesting and processing, I'd throw together a 10 min stir fry from whatever happened to be in season at that moment in time, including okra, and almost always, a red pepper and zucchini.
Today was my day to make Dill relish while I still have cucumbers, and oh, juiced a lot of cherry toms that I didn't know what else to do with, there were so many, and canned them. Had to make a trip to town to buy more canning jars. Walmart was almost sold out so I thought I'd better buy extra because they'll soon either be sold out or move them off the shelves. They have all the garden stuff moved to the nursery section from inside the store and replaced with Halloween stuff. And it's not even October yet. I guess fall is just around the corner when Wally world says so.

Barbara

The loofa is mild, sweet, nutty at its best and a trifle bitter occassionally. I cooked 4. I think one of them was a trifle too mature.

Have you ever made 'fritters' with the young fruits from this plant? I LOVE zucchini fritters prepared the Mediterranean way, with feta, and served with lemon wedges.
Tonight I'm having Amish Chicken Corn Soup with the little dumplings in it to use some of my recently harvested Country Gentlman corn. And some of the zucchini fritters as a side. How's that for ethnic diversity, lol?!

Barbara

Here is a link that might be useful: Amish Corn Recipes

OK Barbara, Time to share the fritter recipe because I like anything with feta.

Most of the time when you see greek salad recipes in the US, they have lettuce, but in Greece that is not usually what you get. You get a family style platter of slced cucumber, tomato wedges, greek olives, with feta crumbled on top and drizzled with olive oil. Sometimes it has a few rings of fresh onion, but not usually. They bring it first along with a big loaf of bread with a knife stuck in the top. You serve yourself to your salad plate and use the bread to get those last few drops of olive oil from your plate. By the time your order arrives, you wonder why you ordered it. LOL At least I do, because I love salad and fresh bread.

The only zuke I planted was a gold one, maybe Goldrush, and it hasn't made many. It is still alive, and blooms all of the time but doesn't make many fruits. I don't think I will plant it again because that it is two years it has behaved that way for me. However, I planted Rampacante this year and it has produced very well. Of course it has taken over the side of the yard, but has made a lot of squash. Since my cucumbers were not productive this year, I made bread and butter pickles out of the Rampacante. It is just the right size for slicing, no seeds in that neck, so it is nice and firm. The other day I sliced some up, along with fresh garlic and onion and dropped them in leftover dill pickle juice to marinate. A few days later I was giving a demo at a church woman's meeting on how to save on your food budget, and I took some of those along. Everybody loved them and said they would never throw away pickle juice again. LOL Although I was mostly talking about grain foods, those were just as big of a hit.

Carol
Mind you, this isn't Martha Stewart's recipe although she had one for Zucchini fritters. You just grate the zucchini into a bowl, let it drain, then squeeze all the water out of it you can, Then mix an egg in with a little flour,(enough to barely hold the mix together), and some finely crumbled feta, salt and pepper. Then drop by tablespoons into hot olive oil, and flip to brown golden brown on each side. Serve with lemon wedges to squeeze on them as you go. Good cold as well!

Another way with zucchini your probably familiar with is to pick the tiny little fingerling zucchini and parboil til tender crisp, then split and marinate in lots of good oilve oil and lots and lots of pulped garlic, salt and pepper. These are served as tapas in Greece, (AND my kitchen to snack on too). They'll keep in the fridge for up to a week.

And yes, a good Greek salad prepared in the classic way with good bread is simply to die for. But-the ONLY way it comes out right is with perfect, ripe succulent tomatos, as well as real Greek olives, good oil and feta. Anything less destroys the entire concept.

Barbara

I made a modified version of the zuchinni fritters. I grated a zuc. but didn' squeeze out the water. Chopped in a small onion, grated in a med carrot, added some feta and some grated parmigianno, broke in two eggs and enough flour and cornmeal to hold it together. Then seasoned with Adobo seasoning. (Turmeric, salt, pepper, garlic and oregano) Fried in EVOO. So good. Thanks for sharing.

Tonight's meal from the garden was the spaghetti sauce, which was made with garden-fresh tomatoes, onions, red bell pepper and garlic....plus other stuff not from the garden.

I made a "made-up" casserole with cooked taco meat (turkey), pinto beans, tomatoes, and hominy, cumin and chili powder and loaded with pablano peppers from the garden. All placed in a dish that had been lined with corn tortillas. Then it was all topped with cheese and baked, then served with cornbread.

I want to try the fritters, but I am out of feta. I went to Sam's on Saturday and forgot to buy my usual block.

Sorry I didn't get to this thread until now. Life has been hectic. I'm sitting at lunch right now with a bowl of groundhog chili. THAT came from my garden!

George

George
Woe be unto any groundhog that finds it's way into your garden. If word get's out in the neighborhood, you may find that you have fewer visitors in the garden, (and maybe for lunch, human that is), lol!

Barbara

George
I hope you know I was just razzing you about the ground hog chili. The one who unfortunately, (for him), got caught trespassing in your garden.
You may not have read on this thread that I was the one who fixed a Mexican dinner from Huitlacoches from my garden, and ended up with an upset stomach that night, lol! Well, it wasn't funny at the time, but I said I would try ANYTHING once, except 'some' things from the animal kingdom, and 'all' things from the reptile kingdom. But who knows, if a woodchuck were properly roasted on an outdoor spit barbeque, and if I'd had a cervesa or two, I might just like it.
Anyways, tonight's din din is very plain and non-controversial. White beans cooked with one of my tomatoes, garlic clove, and served with stone ground cornbread. Wish it was from your stock of cornmeal, but maybe next year this time. I have some Earthtones drying in the ears in the garden for grinding later. I hope it works out. I'm a newbie at growing corn for grinding.

Happy Groundhog hunting :)

Barbara

Hey Barbara,

Life has been so hectic here that I haven't read through this whole thread yet. Sure, I know you were razzing me! Not a lot of folks would want to try groundhog, though, if properly prepared it is really good. Anyway, when time permits, and I have to eliminate a garden pest, I prefer to add it to the larder.

I hope your Earthtones corn works out well for you. I can't imagine that it wouldn't. We will have very very little corn for grinding, from this year's harvest. But, thankfully, last year we had much better and still have some left over.

George

Barbara,

I'm surprised that huitlacoche gave you a stomach ache. It's just a kind of mushroom. Umm.... But then, if I was in your shoes, I might not want to try it again either!

We've eaten it many times.

George (who finally read this thread!)

I don't know, George, just the thought of eating huitlacoche makes me feel kinda queasy. LOL

I'm not real crazy about mushrooms anyway. After a lifetime of fighting fungi in the garden, I just don't much like to eat it, even if it tastes pretty good.

Dawn

We had more delicious sweet corn, and sauteed zucchini...man was it good.

I made what may be the last batch of fresh raw salsa, or pico de gallo, as the tomatoes are almost gone. I asked my DH if he thought I would love this dish as much if I could make it all year long, and he said, "No, you'd get tired of it." Maybe I would but that's hard to imagine, as I love it so much and am so sorry to see the season come to an end.

Am I the only one addicted to this stuff? Here's how I make it.

Chop tomatoes, onions, garlic, a cucumber or a few tomatillos, a couple sweet peppers, green and red, and jalapenos to taste. Add fresh lime juice to taste, sea salt to taste and quite a bit of fresh cilantro. I eat this with chips and love love love it. And I have tried to make it with storebought tomatoes and it's just not the same.

See my new nic? ChipsNSalsa. Yes, I am also addicted, from way back when. I developed this lovely addiction while living in NM, where peppers and GOOD Mexican food are the order of the day.

Reminds me-I used to go to a little mom and pop off the track cafe in Santa Fe that had the BEST green chili ever. Well, about anywhere you eat in NM the food is great.

George
About the huitlacoche, it's just that I am 'sensitive' to just about any kind of mushroom. I go ahead and do it anyway just because I love them so. But I may not do THAT one again.

In my neck of the woods there are morel fields here and there, and I haven't been able to go pick for a long time because it's no fun without someone to go with. The last time I went though, I gathered an paper grocery sack 3/4's full. I was in heaven.

Barbara

And where are these morel fields again....? Just curious of course.....:)

Dorothy,

We make it the same way, excluding the tomatillos, and Tim puts in too much cilantro if I'm not keeping a watchful eye over him.

We're addicted to it also, and do make it in the winter with grocery store romas. It isn't as good with grocery store tomatoes as it is with homemade, but we eat it anyway.

Barb,

We haven't eaten as much from the garden lately because I've been to busy canning or freezing everything I can get my hands on. I've got six kinds of salsa put up to get us through the winter, and tons of pickled peppers. I'm getting tired of processing all the peppers, but I'll keep it up as long as they keep producing. Even though I am tired of the peppers now, I know we'll eat every one of them in the coming months.

Lately, no matter what I'm cooking or canning, I'm still using onions, peppers (sweet and hot), and tomatoes from the garden. I'm getting some black-eyed peas and okra put up in the freezer every week, and the fall green beans, cukes and sweet corn are just now reaching the harvest stage.

One day, a freeze will come and all we'll have left is a few cool-season crops, and I won't know what to do with myself.

Dawn

Dale
I would never be able to describe the exact location of where these morels were found. They were on private property, and I was invited by the owner, or I never would have found it by myself. Now, since she has moved, I'd probably have to trespass or get the new owner's permission.

Anyways, you should be happy to know they are to be found in many locations in Oklahoma. Keep tabs on this link, and you should be able to zero in on a good location.

I think there's another morel link for Oklahoma as well as this one online.

You won't be disappointed if you luck onto a good morel spot. As you will see in the pics in this link, even the homeies love them, lol!

Just wait til about April and about four days after a rain. Look for a moist woodland, where some deer and cows have roamed, and there are many such places in Oklahoma.

I LOVE morels just about any way you can prepare them. And especially morel soup, or perhaps cut up in small pieces for tempura. A real delicacy.

I've been thinking of starting my own little shitake patch. You can buy the spores of those online and perhaps other varieties as well.

Dawn
I can relate to the harvesting, canning and preserving fatigue. Getting kind of tired of it myself, so when dinner time rolls around and it's just me, it's catch as catch can from the garden.

I really do hate to see the summer crops dwindling. Okra not bearing well. The cucumbers that store boughts will NEVER be able to rival are just about kaput.

I still have tons of BIG tomatos that haven't ripened yet. Since it's been dry, with no recent rain, I've been allowing them to store up all that deliciousness and not get soggy or insipidly flavorless, so they have been amazing!

Especially enjoying the Indian Stipes, which were not new to you, but certainly a delightful first for me.

I'm hoping I don't get stuck with having to can jars of pickled tomatos or green tomato relish. I like it, but there's only so much of it I can eat.

Today's menu was simply one of my baked buttercup squash, (just the right size for me), with butter and brown sugar, and cooked to pieces pole beans.

Since I don't have a family to cook for, sometimes I kind of 'batch' and my folks used to call it. Nice in a way, since I can eat weird stuff that I like, when I like and not have to worry about meal planning per se.

Barbara

Here is a link that might be useful: Morels of Oklahoma

AAhh, morels. About 10 years ago, a Cherokee friend of ours was at our house in April and asked, "Have you looked for morels this spring?" "No," I said, so he and I grabbed a couple brown grocery sacks and headed for our woods. We found a huge patch. As we were getting close to picking the entire patch, I said, "Let's don't pick them all. We need to leave some for seed." "Morels don't make seed," he said, "they come up from underground roots. We can take all these and more will come next year." I didn't think that was right, having read about spores and the fruiting process in mushrooms, but figured being Cherokee, he knew what he was talking about. So picked them all and have never seen a SINGLE morel on our property in the 10 years since. sob.... Later he came back and admitted he was wrong and apologized for wiping out our colony without leaving any to release spores to start over.

Ooh, zuke fritters sound incredible! I just harvested the first four from the fall crop so I'll do that for tonight's dinner. Yum!

Barbara,

Have you ever tried to hold green tomatoes until they ripen by wrapping each one in newspaper and placing them in a single layer on a shelf or closet in a cool, dark place (like a shelf in a closet)? Sometimes they'll slowly ripen over a period of weeks. Of course, you have to keep checking them, but it is like finding buried treasure when you unwrap one and it is coloring up!

I'm definitely getting into a fall mood, so I've made apple pie jam, grape jelly and (of course) Habanero Gold Confetti Jelly this week. Tomorrow I am going to make more grape jelly and some apple cider jelly. THEN, either Sunday or Monday, I am hoping to make some pomegranate jelly and cranberry jelly. With the fruits that we don't raise ourselves, I try to buy them and make jelly when they are in season and hit the grocery stores, so right now that means apples, pomegranates, apple cider and, soon, cranberries.

I think I could make Habanero Gold three days a week and still not use up all these habanero peppers. I have about 1/2 qt. left of my original 1600 peppers that I have been struggling to 'use up', but the one habanero pepper plant that is left (half of it died, but the other half lived) has about 50 more that need to be picked. I'm strongly tempted to compost them, but I won't. I'll keep on keeping on until I get them all put up.

My okra stalled during the cool, cloudy weather, but has kicked in again this week--probably because we've been having sunlight and heat again. I do think my black-eyed peas are just about done though.

Tomorrow I'll start picking the first of the fall sweet corn, and maybe cukes and beans as well. Now, if only the weather holds a tiny bit longer.

Dorothy, That's a terribly sad story. I can't believe no morels have sprouted since then! I've been told some people around us have morels, but I've never seen them on our land. It is my understanding that the traditional method of collecting them involves carrying them in a mesh bag as you walk to they can shed spores to replenish themselves as you carry them home.

Diane, Have you noticed that we not only are "gardening enabler's" here, but cooking and eating enablers too. It all fits together though, doesn't it!

Dawn